1. Field of the Invention
A system and method for providing driving risk assessment to an operator of a vehicle equipped with on-board sensors or vehicle-to-vehicle (V-2-V) or infrastructure-to-vehicle (I-2-V) systems using a hierarchical index of passive driving conditions and active driving conditions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Methods and systems for generating driving risk assessment are known. U.S. Pat. No. 7,124,027 to Ernst et al. teaches a collision avoidance system having sensors for obtaining radar measurements detecting objects external to the vehicle, an identification module for storing attributes associated with a user of the vehicle, environmental conditions, and roadway, as well as a means for providing threat assessment based upon the radar measurements and selected attributes. However, Ernst et al does not teach the placement of external attributes and environmental conditions in a hierarchical index and assigning a risk factor to each attribute.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0038573 to Goudy discloses the use of risk analysis summation for determining when to disable entertainment devices. The disclosure teaches updating the risk level on the basis of information learned from previous experience. However, Goudy does not teach the use of external environmental conditions in conjunction with information learned from previous experience to provide a risk assessment for current vehicle operations.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a system and method for providing a driving risk assessment that provides accurate and timely risk assessment based not only upon driver information, roadway orientation, but also the operating conditions of other vehicles within a predetermined area, current weather and roadway conditions. It is also desirable that certain environmental conditions be placed in a hierarchical order as this decreases process time and increases process reliability thereby fierier assuring that driving risk assessment is provided in a timely manner.